3d Animation Articles

Featured 3d Animation Article

If you go to a top quality and reputable school like Full Sail, Digital Media Art College or Art Institute (and do _well_), your chances of getting your foot in the door for an interview increase ten-fold. The recruiters know what is taught at these schools and can assume that you are versed in a lot of things that most other candidates are not, but not always though...

3D Animation

The most common animation software used for making animated films is Maya. Maya is a complex but extremely powerful tool. A student will have a nice learning curve with it. Again, most schools will teach you as you go. If you are learning on your own then stay close to the tutorials. Maya animation software is also one of the most expensive. The interface is user friendly but densely populated.

3DS Max is a simpler animation software by comparison. It is highly used for the gaming industry although not limited to. The action film Lost In Space was created completely with 3DS Max. The interface is friendly and as with other programs can be altered to fit your style. This is also a pricey animation software, but as with other things, give it time and the price will come down.
Another animation software used by many for gaming is Softimage. Here is a link to the price sheet for these three products by Autodesk.

As 3D animation develops and expands, animation jobs appear in new areas. 3D animators are no longer required to live in southern California, but rather can take up employment all over the world. 3D animators work to create movies, television, commercials, video games, online video and instructional video. Animators can work for the government, the private sector and non-profit organizations; animators can take an artistic or commercial focus. ..

Learning 3D Animation Animators must have a keen understanding of motion, movement, and acting. It may surprise you that the best animators take acting lessons - this helps them understand how their own body moves, and makes it easier to transfer that understanding into believable animation...

Modeling is the process of taking a shape and molding it into a completed 3D mesh. The most typical means of creating a 3D model is to take a simple object, called a primitive, and extend or "grow" it into a shape that can be refined and detailed. Primitives can be anything from a single point (called a vertex), a two-dimensional line (an edge), a curve (a spline), to three dimensional objects (faces or polygons)...

I almost never got to do 3D at all. I originally saw myself taking Creative Advertising in College, since I thought that was the field where I could best apply my love for drawing. Back then, 3D animation was not quite as big as it is today. After going through different courses the college offered, I came across a 3D animation course.

You get what you pay for. Private schools such as Ringling, Sheridan, Full Sail, Digital Media Art College, The Art Institute etc. will cost you a lot more than state run schools (like twice as much or more!). They're a bit more picky about who they accept and pride themselves in producing top quality graduates...

I've worked on a number of different films in a variety of roles. I've designed, sculpted and fabricated and art directed on films such as: Bill and Ted's Bogus journey, Radio Flyer, Of Mice and Men, Honey, I Blew up the Kid, Jurassic Park, Coneheads, Starship Troopers, Dragonheart, Evolution, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, and Starship Troopers II to name a few. I've also animated and animation supervised on several films including: Tremors II, Starship Troopers I and II, The Haunting, Cat's and Dogs, Blade II, The Stepford Wives, and currently Mask II.

3d Animation Articles

So, what does it take to be a 3D artist? Well, obviously, you must have an eye for art. Most people who begin learning how to do 3D have some kind of background in drawing and sketching. Indeed, it's not unheard of for 3D studios to hire artists who have no experience in 3D art, based solely on the strength of a pencil drawing portfolio. Sculptors, who were previously limited to animatronics and claymation to enter the realm of live-action art, also tend to have an easy time making the transition to 3D.

Alex Orrelle is a London-born, Israeli-raised animator. He has studied animation at the Academy of Art College in San Francisco, where he directed a group project CG short called "Freeware". The short won the Alias|Wavefront student competition. Alex went on to work at Manex Visual Effects, as a character animator for the Matrix sequels. His current job is at Pixar, where he serves as both character animator and storyboard artist.

"Almost every video game today uses character animation. It's become a standard element in modern entertainment software," says Mark Stuart, who is a video games designer for Bionic Games and is currently working on Spyborgs...

Even though you probably haven't spent much time wondering about companies they make action figures, the answer might surprise you. In a world of high tech modeling and CAD programs, such figures are among the last holdouts of a most ancient art: realistic sculpture.

It needed to happen. After several years of reviewing many demo reels for potential candidates and seeing how the work simply did not measure up to what we were looking for, I began to have a thought in the back of my head, "how can these schools produce work that is of such low quality? There has to be a better way."

Video game animation offers a plethora of exciting opportunities and hurtles. For those involved, this digital playground offers a rich and rewarding experience, creating animation that connects to the audience on a more personal level then ever before. (Most sudios also mostly hire full time, rather than by contract!) For those interested in pursuing a career in this field, Sam recommends, "Find your passion, and just do it."